What are the treatment options for sports hernia?

Sports hernia is a painful injury around the lower abdomen, groin or pubic region, often triggered by sprinting, cutting, kicking or forceful twisting. It is not necessarily a visible groin lump. Because hip, abdominal, adductor and pubic problems can overlap, assessment helps identify the tissues involved and rule out other causes of groin pain.

The first phase usually reduces the movements that reproduce pain while keeping comfortable general activity. A gradual plan is more useful than testing the painful movement repeatedly.

Exercise therapy may start with gentle trunk and pelvic control, then progress to adductor, hip and abdominal strengthening. Sports physiotherapy adapts drills to your position, training surface and sport, then rebuilds running, change of direction and kicking in stages. Pain response during and after training helps set the next step.

If a structured rehabilitation programme does not restore function, a sports-medicine or surgical assessment may be appropriate. The clinician will consider the examination, duration of symptoms and any coexisting hip or groin condition before discussing an operation.

Book an assessment when groin or lower-abdominal pain keeps returning with sport, limits walking or affects daily activities. Seek urgent care for severe sudden pain, a new painful groin lump, vomiting, fever or inability to pass urine. Those features can point to another condition that needs prompt examination.

Ask which structure appears to be causing the pain, what training can continue safely, and what signs show that rehabilitation is progressing. Ask when to begin sprinting or kicking again and whether your hip, adductor or abdominal muscles need separate assessment.